Words by Flora Macdonald Johnston
If you had to summarise Mason Newman in one word. It would be cheeky. From the moment we sit down, he is incredibly open, self deprecating and not afraid to throw out big statements which could be taken as controversial if they weren't all embedded with humurous undertones. “I have an ego,” he says.
Today, many will have seen Newmans’ artworks, the Birmingham-born now London-based artist has worked with some incredible names despite eschewing the traditional route of studying at art school - in fact he dropped out of school altogether as a teenager. He was the first artist to collaborate with designer Ed Hardy, has been featured by Forbes and was hand picked by Madonna’s team to head up her label 'Material Girl' as its creative director, and all this by the age of 24.
Nemwan's series ‘Dollar Bills’ a few years ago went viral. Newman drew on $1 bills creating affordable and yet unique artworks. “I'm a massive piss taker,” he explains, “I thought, right, how can I turn something that cost me 80 pence into hundreds of pounds? So that's where that came from..."
If it’s not already clear, Newman is not one to do anything by halves. His recent exhibition on Greek Street to celebrate his new book ‘Mason Newman Some Fucking year’ (available for £100) was pulled together in just a few weeks, and the time it took to actually create his coffee table book from concept to print - a mere two weeks before that.
So, to celebrate his new book, I sat down with Nemwan in our Greek Street space to talk about growing up in Birmingham, his love for pushing boundaries and his visions for the future.
Let’s rewind, many now know Mason the man, but what about the boy?
I was a naughty kid. I can't be told what to do. So I got kicked out of a few secondary schools. And I was a weird kid. So growing up, when I was about three years old, my mum tells me this story that I used to be obsessed with Marilyn Manson's Tainted Love, the music video.
At three?
At three. And, apparently I was in my baby walker in front of the TV. And I would just stare at this music video when it would come on. And apparently I liked the hot tub scene. Which is the weirdest one because they're all dressed up weirdly. But growing up I kind of changed personalities a lot as a kid to try and fit into different things. I'd be into football and then I'd be into another sport. Then I'd be into music so I could fit in with each crowd. I remember at a parent's evening once a teacher said to my mom, that I'm friends with every crowd and he's never seen anything like it because I can kind of merge personalities and become another person, kind of like a chameleon was how I described it.
And growing up as a teenager?
I kind of found myself later on, probably as a late teenager. I just hate to be told what to do. Like, if someone tells me not to do something, I'm going to want to do it a million times more. Hence why I'm still doing this…
What creative outlets were there for you growing up in Birmingham?
Birmingham - it is shitty, like I had a great upbringing, but it was a shit place. We grew up on a council of state, single mother. So she did everything, she perfectly raised us. My older brothers are nine years older than me, so I was the young one. My dad was a musician (he's still alive, that sounds like he's fucking dead) so growing up I'd listen to him play instruments, sing. And both of my brothers did music as well.
My mum used to write poetry but she would never let me read them, so I'd sneak into her room and give them a little read. And that was like, from seven years old. We'd also draw together cartoon characters. So that was my creative outlet growing up.
Your family appears to have influenced your fashion and art, and you’ve mentioned that your grandfather in particular is a big reason as to why you are the artist you are today?
Growing up he was around, because my dad wasn't around much and not taking anything away from my dad or anything, but when my mum and dad split up, I didn't see a lot of him, so my grandad kind of stepped in to help mum. As we come from a council estate, no one had money, so grandad would help where he could.
He used to be a little wheeler dealer - and he's dead now, they can't punish him for it - but he used to sell fake alcohol, fake cigarettes out of his boot. He taught me how to sell.
He obviously made you savvy because he gave you £200 to launch your own label and here we are now
Yeh he did, it was his pension as well, this was 2016, so it was a year before he died. And before he did [give me the money] I had asked everyone, my brothers etc. I was like, I just want to get some caps, I want to make a brand because I ain't going to college, I ain't going to uni, I just can't be arsed for education…
If he hadn't done that for me, given me that money, I'd be plastering or something right now.
That feels like a sliding doors moment for you
It is. We built up from those caps and we kept building, and from that I got the confidence to do other things.
How did your fashion venture manifest into an art career?
I did [that brand] till 2018 ish. And then I started a fashion brand called Mason Newman Studios, which is very egotistical, slap my name on it type thing. We started that towards COVID times, it was going well, it gave me a good life.
It didn't make me rich or anything, but I was happy. Paying more than any job at the time. I had a business partner who was an investor as well but we mutually agreed to part ways and take other routes. When I was doing the graphics for the clothes though, t-shirts, hoodies, whatever, I started to hand draw them, and then that's when I developed a character with the eyes ‘Gyal’.
That's now your signature your motif in all your works
Exactly, that's where that comes from.
One of my closest friends is an artist, Scott R Greenwood, and during that time he was working at a Tesco, but then started painting and all of a sudden, he's driving a nice car, doing this and that,hanging with Johnny Depp - all these big people.
I'm like, fucking hell, art's actually quite easy. It could be easier to make art [rather than fashion]. So it was him that inspired me to try a painting.
And I kind of understood how the creative world works. It doesn't matter how well you can draw, how well you can do this. My dad can draw perfectly and he couldn't sell a piece for 20 quid, you know what I mean? It's about developing a style. So, from drawing onto the clothes, I was like, okay, let me translate this style onto canvas. Honestly, that's where that came from. It was literally translating characters from the t- shirt to canvas.
Your series 'Dollar Bills' gained a lot of traction on social media, talk me through that idea, and how it came about?
Okay, I'm a massive piss taker. So, I thought, right, how can I turn something that cost me 80 pence into hundreds of pounds? So that's where that came from. It was just me wanting to take the piss and see how far I could take something. But also I wanted to do something that was affordable for the masses.
Because I had people that I knew, people who liked my work, that would obviously not be able to afford a piece of art. So I was thinking, how can I do something that I've actually touched and drawn on and it's not a print, something that I can actually give out and then you can have something on your wall, and it becomes an investment piece.
Wild you started it as a joke…
Well the funniest one was when I went to McDonald's. I went to a McDonald's and I walked around the McDonald's in Birmingham and I picked up all the rubbish, put it in a McDonald's bag, got myself a cheeseburger,left and then drew on the McDonald's rubbish and sold that. It sold out instantly.
You were also the first artist to ever collaborate with Ed Hardy - that’s pretty major, how did that happen?
You know what it was? I'm a born hustler. I can't take no for an answer. About a year before it happened, I DM'd them on Instagram. I was like, let's do something. But they left me unseen. A year later I messaged again And luckily they had a new social media team who pushed it onto the creative team, or whatever team it was. From that we planned a call.
They didn't actually show up to the first call. And I have a 10 minute rule. If someone's 10 minutes late, I'm leaving and I just don't usually go back, but I was like, you know what this is Ed Hardy, I used to wear fakes of it as a kid, it was my favorite brand. It's probably where my tattoo addiction came from actually. So we rescheduled the call, and they said we'd love to do something. Let's do an auction. It was a collaborative idea that we do it for charity.
So, although I didn't make any money from it, it was brilliant. It was the best thing I've ever done because a) money went to charity and b) I've collaborated with my favorite brand growing up that I had to make my mom buy a £10 fake t-shirt of, you know? It was cool.
And then of course, you were appointed Creative Director of Madonna’s fashion label material girl?
A friend of mine who was working on the brand, and the team reached out to me and was like, okay, we're working on this and we need someone to do everything. Do you want to do it? And it happened.
I'm probably more business minded than creative to be honest but that was cool. We did a collection and that was that. I then moved on because I wanted to focus more on my art. I'm like an octopus. I like to juggle things because I get bored.
That brings us nicely onto your exhibition and coffee table book which is why we are here today. Why do you think a coffee table book showing your journey is needed now?
Well because I have a massive ego and I think everyone should have pictures of me on their coffee table. No, that's an awful thing to say! Ignore that!
I collect coffee table books. I have over a hundred of them in my studio. And I always wanted to do one. And because I've had such a good year, it's like, let's do it now. I actually decided to do it about five weeks ago, it was all last minute.
Really?
Yeah, this exhibition I decided to do three weeks ago, the book five weeks ago, because I saw someone with their own book and it pissed me off. I was like, I should do that.
You’ve timed it well with FRIEZE in just a few days, what are your views on the art fair? Do you think it helps emerging artists?
I think it's a great platform, I think all things like that are a great platform for artists of all levels. Although I do hate corporate things. So that's my stance on it. I'm just not about corporate as you can probably tell by some of the pieces. But I think FRIEZE is a great thing.
Would you like to be represented by a gallery or do you think you'd prefer to be quite independent?
To be honest, I really don't care. Maybe I'll start my own gallery.
This exhibition has been a great success, you’ve sold multiple works as well as books - so, what’s next? Where do you want to take this?
America and Asia. I feel like the art market in the UK is shit. No one wants to part with money here because of the way the recession is. Everyone's miserable. So yeh, I want to take it elsewhere, and Asia will be unreal for character based things too.
Ok, so what’s next for Mason Newman?
I want to get into sculpture…I’ll be like Michelangelo, just hacking at the David...